USA > Massachusetts > Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment [circular no. 13] > Part 3
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Yours with much regard, JAMES H. LOWELL.
Among the letters received was one from Mr. Victor Cushwa, a resident of the town of Williamsport, where we spent so many pleas- ant days among its hospitable people, for whom we conceived an enduring friendship, and of whom we have so many pleasant recol- lections. Mr. Cushwa was a resident of the town when we were quartered there. It is agreeable to feel that our sentiments are so heartily reciprocated :
WILLIAMSPORT, MD., Dec, 8, 1900.
How I would love to be with you all next Tuesday eve at your annual dinner! Not that I would care for the plentiful and most bountiful tables, but to meet the remnant left and fast disappearing with time, to go over in peace and pleasure the incidents of the past. I will have to forego that great pleasure, yet I will sincerely hope that we may all meet at some future time. How glad I would be to see and have a hearty shake of hands with Colonel Leonard, and you all of his command ! Tell them for me that I will be with you all in spirit, and wish all many happy reunions.
We were entertained during the evening by remarks of Hon. Milton Reed, of Fall River, who was the guest of Comrade Warner. - This is the second time he has honored us with his presence, and he
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may feel assured that the feeling of pleasure so well expressed by him is heartily reciprocated and we hope he will continue to meet with us.
During the evening the suggestion was made that the regiment honor the memory of Colonel Hovey by procuring a bronze tablet to be placed in some prominent public building. The matter was left with Comrade Sampson and others. During the month of January this year circulars were issued, and in response thereto the sum of $142 was received. The expense of circulars, postage, etc., was $17. This leaves a balance of $123.
Correspondence with the Ames Manufacturing Company assures us of their willingness to furnish a tablet for the sum of $100. Added to this will be the expense of freight, etc. Owing to the sickness and death of Comrade Sampson the matter has been delayed until now. The money and correspondence has been turned over to the secretary, who will endeavor to carry out the purpose of the subscription.
The following poem, showing how the " old man " of '61 was van- quished by the Spanish War veteran, needs no explanation. It was read at request of Comrade Rideout and to the amusement of all.
A VETERAN VANQUISHED.
Since I came back from bloody war in eighteen sixty-five,
Shot up in quite annoyin' way, but glad to be alive, It's been the pleasure of my life to set my frisky jaw A-waggin' 'bout the dangers an' privations that I saw. I loved to fight the battles o'er, an' felt an honest pride In tellin' of the part I tuk upon the Union side, In grim recitals tendin' to 'most any heart appall ; But since that boy o' mine got back I stand no show at all.
I guess fur most a thousand times, an' mebbe more, I've sot An' told my children thrillin' tales of how their daddy fought, An' when the neighbors'd come in my martial tongue'd flop, Until I'd know they'd wish to gosh the cussed thing'd stop. I'd tell 'em of the tented camps, the marches, an' the fights, The fun around the camp-fire in the bivouacs o' nights, An' all the dire privations that a soldier could befall ; But since that boy o' mine got back I stand no show at all.
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I marched with Billy Sherman from Atlanty to the sea, Swung 'round to old Virginny for a shy at Bobby Lee, I went through more than twenty fights where shells an' bullets flew, An' stained the soil o' Dixie with my blood a time or two, An' ever since the greatest joy o' life has bin to set An' fight them bloody scraps ag'in with some old comrade vet, Or git the children 'round me like a eager, lis'nin' wall ; But since that boy o' mine got back I stand no show at all.
Of course, as veteran soldiers will, some yarns I'd of'n spin If given an assay fur truth'd pan out mighty thin, An' had some old reliable prevarications I
Had come to think was gospel truth myself, an' that's no lie.
I saw some rocky sarvice, an' I fought right up to date,
But if I'd done the fightin' that my yarns'd indicate
I'd be the biggest warhoss in the hull rebellion stall ; But since that boy o' mine got back I stand no show at all.
He sets an' laughs when I begin to boastingly recite The same old stories he has heard since fust he saw the light, An' says if us old catacombs had been in Cuby, we Would never mention fight again to heroes sich as he. An' then he'll turn his talker loose with stories that'd make The divil want to grab his hand fur a fraternal shake. I used to think that I could lie with purty nervy gall, But since that boy o' mine got back I stand no show at all.
The receipts and expenditures for the past year have been as follows :
Receipts :
Balance on hand Dec. 1, 1900 . . $18 40
Received by assessments to Dec. 1, 1901 82 50
$100 90
Expended :
Rockwell & Churchill for circulars and postals . . $45 50
Postage
6 00
Envelopes
3 00
54 50
Balance on hand Dec. 1, 1901
$56 40
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The foregoing financial statement is a flattering evidence of the continued interest in our old regiment. The willingness that has always been shown by members of the association in contributing liberally to maintain our organization, or to carry out any other good purpose, is very gratifying and shows how dear to all is the standing of the Thirteenth among other regiments. Our annual circulars, which are not much to brag of, perhaps, have by their continu- ance acquired among collectors of documents, particularly libraries, a value disproportionate to their merit. Demands for back numbers to complete broken sets that have accidentally come into their pos- session are made every year and from places so remote from New England as to give evidence of wide circulation, if not a large one. The following extract from a letter of Gov. John A. Andrew to Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, and which was published in Schouler's " History of Massachusetts in the Civil War," may not be known to many of you, but is of sufficient interest to warrant its publication : "The Thirteenth Regiment could furnish officers for a whole regiment outside of itself, and be no more weakened than is a bird by laying its eggs. It is remarkable for its excellence of material."
This is a handsome compliment and would have been included in our history of the regiment, but for the fear that we might seem a bit anxious to praise ourselves. In our annual circular, which is wholly a family matter, its publication cannot excite criticism.
The secretary has been notified of the following deaths :
William P. Miles, Co. C, Sept. 7, 1893, Providence, R.I.
Charles H. Lang, Co. G, Sept. 1, 1898.
Seth Bessey, Co. G, Dec. 20, 1895.
George F. McKay, Co. C, April 4, 1899, New York.
Henry Deadman, Co. G, May 16, 1899.
James Norris, Co. G, Sept. 4, 1899.
Otis M. Eastman, Co. G, Sept. 28, 1899.
James L. Forbes, Co. A, Nov. 6, 1899, Shamshobad Azamgarb, N.W.P., East India.
Joseph D. Frost, Co. H, Feb. 16, 1900.
George H. Moore, Co. I, Dec. 26, 1900.
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James A. Fox, Co. A, Dec. 15, 1900, Providence, R.I. Melzar G. Turner, Co. K, Jan. 20, 1901, Westboro, Mass. Frank Cooledge, Co. K, Jan. 17, 1901, Riverside, Cal. John W. Grubb, Co. D, April, 1901, Melrose, Mass. Joseph Donnell, Co. E, April 25, 1901, Dayton, Ohio. Rufus C. Moore, Co. H, July 5, 1901, Natick, Mass. Augustus Newman Sampson, Co. B, Sept. 18, 1901, Boston. John F. Bates, Co. K, Oct. 4, 1901, Chelsea, Mass. George K. Pomroy, Co. B, Oct. 15, 1891, Winthrop, Mass. William M. Chase, sutler, Nov. 20, 1901, Dorchester, Mass. George E. Craig, Nov. 22, 1901, Walpole, Mass.
THE JOHN BROWN BELL.
One of the most interesting relics of the Civil War is the bell at- tached to the engine house at Harper's Ferry when John Brown was captured. For many years after the war the building remained in its original position with " JOHN BROWN'S FORT " printed in large white letters on the side so that persons in passing trains might easily see this famous little building. During the summer of 1861 some of the members of Company I of the Thirteenth took the bell from its resting place, brought it across the Potomac river, and dumped it into the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, intending later to send it home to Marlboro to be used by the fire department of that town. It remained in this spot until permission to take it away was obtained by the boys from Major Gould. When Company I was ordered to join the regiment, Oct. 31, 1862, the bell was taken from the canal, carefully boxed, and carted to Williamsport, Md.
When the regiment crossed the Potomac, March 1, 1862, the bell was buried in the yard of a house occupied by Mr. William Ensminger (or Insiminger). It remained in the town of Williamsport until 1891, when Comrades James M. Gleason, William Alley, and others brought it to Marlboro and had it placed on the Grand Army Hall, where it now hangs.
CHAS. E. DAVIS, JR. Secretary.
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"THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD."
Having lately seen a beautiful tribute to Theodore O'Hara, author of the immortal poem, " The Bivouac of the Dead," and as O'Hara was my personal friend and assistant in the adjutant-general's office of the Kentucky division, commanded by Major-General Breckinridge, I take pleasure in sending you an extract from the article, with the full poem, which I have carried in my note-book ever since the war.
It is worthy of record that this son of the South produced the one perfect and universal martial eulogy that the world has known, and that the South has been absolutely unmindful of this fact. The first of these statements is proven by the fact that without any advertise- ment or exploitations, the wonderful words have, in the fifty years since they were written, permeated the whole world, and been laid hold on by English-speaking people everywhere, to celebrate their honored dead who passed away in battle. Upon Crimean battle- fields the resting-place of English heroes is marked by a great monument, on which shine O'Hara's matchless words ; and yet Eng- land did not know from whom she borrowed when she wrote them :
" On fame's eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread, And glory guards, with solemn round, The bivouac of the dead."
Perhaps the anonymous character of the poem was a blessing, since it is doubtful if the Federal Government of the United States would have used the lines in such lavish fashion in immortalizing the dead of the Union Army had they been recognized as the product of the genius of a soldier and officer of the other side. In any case, they did not know, and every national cemetery in America has gained thereby, since they are not only the most appropriate, but the only appropriate lines for such a purpose.
Over the gateway of the national cemetery at Washington the fa- mous first stanza is engraved, and there, as at Antietam and other national cemeteries, the entire poem is reproduced, stanza by stanza, on slabs placed along the driveway.
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O'Hara lies in the burying-ground at Frankfort, Ky., with only the inscription on a simple slab of marble which says :
THEODORE O'HARA, MAJOR A. D. C. DIED JUNE 6, 1867.
Below is a copy of his poem in full, written on the occasion of the removal of the Kentucky dead from Mexico to their native State after the war with that country.
JOHN A. BUCKNER.
THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD. (Written by Theodore O' Hara in 1847.)
The muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo ; No more on life's parade shall meet That brave and fallen few. On fame's eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread, And glory guards, with solemn round, The bivouac of the dead.
No rumor of the foe's advance Now swells upon the wind ; No troubled thought at midnight haunts Of loved ones left behind ; No vision of the morrow's strife The warrior's dream alarms ; No braying horn nor screaming fife At dawn shall call to arms.
Their shivered swords are red with rust, Their plumed heads are bowed ; Their haughty banner, trailed in dust, Is now their martial shroud, And plenteous funeral tears have washed The red stains from each brow, And the proud forms, by battle gashed, Are free from anguish now. (12)
The neighing troop, the flashing blade, The bugle's stirring blast, The charge, the dreadful cannonade, The din and shout, are passed ; Nor war's wild note nor glory's peal Shall thrill with fierce delight Those breasts that nevermore may feel The rapture of the fight.
Like the fierce northern hurricane That sweeps his great plateau, Flushed with the triumph yet to gain, Came down the serried foe. Who heard the thunder of the fray Break o'er the field beneath, Knew well the watchword of that day Was " victory or death."
Long had the doubtful conflict raged O'er all the stricken plain, For never fiercer fight had waged The vengeful blood of Spain ; And still the storm of battle blew, Still swelled the gory tide ; Not long our stout old chieftain knew Such odds his strength could bide.
"Twas in that hour his stern command Called to a martyr's grave The flower of his beloved land, The nation's flag to save. By rivers of their fathers' gore His first-born laurels grew, And well he deemed the sons would pour Their lives for glory, too.
Full many a norther's breath has swept O'er Angostura's plain - And long the pitying sky has wept Above its mouldered slain. The raven's scream or eagle's flight, Or shepherd's pensive lay, Alone awakes each sullen height That frowned o'er that dread fray.
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Sons of the dark and bloody ground, Ye must not slumber there, Where stranger steps and tongues resound Along the heedless air. Your own proud land's heroic soil Shall be your fitter grave ; She claims from war his richest spoil - The ashes of her brave.
Thus 'neath their parent turf they rest, Far from the gory field. Borne to a Spartan mother's breast On many a bloody shield ; The sunshine of their native sky Smiles sadly on them here, And kindred eyes and hearts watch by The heroes' sepulchre.
Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead ! Dear as the blood ye gave ; No impious footsteps here shall tread The herbage of your grave ; Nor shall your glory be forgot While fame her record keeps, Or honor paints the hallowed spot Where valor proudly sleeps.
Yon marble minstrel's voiceless stone In deathless song shall tell, When many a vanished age hath flown, The story how ye fell ; Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight, Nor time's remorseless doom, Shall dim one ray of glory's light That gilds your deathless tomb.
The first stanza of the following ballad was often sung at Fort Independence in May and the following months of 1861, and has an interest to us on that account :
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A BALLADE OF 1837.
I notice a writer in a recent issue of the "Saturday Review " tries to give some account of the old ballad, " Shule, Shule, Shule, Agra." The stanza he quotes must be from a parody on the original ballad. He also speaks of it as having been introduced into New York in 1862 or IS63. The present writer heard what purports to be the original ballad sung by Irish emigrants as early as 1837. The form in which it was then sung is the old ballad in a modern dress. So the original Gaelic version must be much older. It is a lament of a peasant girl because her lover was forced to go to war, and is as follows :
I'll go to yonder grassy hill, There I will sit and cry my fill, Till every tear would stir a mill, They took my Johnny for a soldier. Shule, shule, shule, Agra, Shule, mavourneen, shule, Aragh, My lovely lad to the war must go, They took my Johnny for a soldier.
I'll sell my distaff and my reel, I'll also sell my spinning wheel, And buy my lad a sword and shield. My Johnny must go for a soldier. Shule, shule, shule, Agra, Shule, mavourneen, shule, Aragh, My lovely lad to the war must go, They took my Johnny for a soldier.
I'll dye my skirt and mantle red, All round this world I'll beg my bread. My love and I can never wed, They took my Johnny for a soldier. Shule, shule, shule, Agra, Time alone can ease my woe, My lovely lad to the war must go, They took my Johnny for a soldier.
It is a sad and shameful truth, That Kings and Princes have no ruth. Oh, what care they for love or youth, They took my Johnny for a soldier. Shule, shule, shule, Agra, (15)
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Time alone can ease my woe, My lovely lad to the war must go, They took my Johnny for a soldier.
As was before said, it will be seen that this is an old ballad in modern dress. In the second stanza she proposes to barter her spinning apparatus for arms for her lover. It is not a gun or pistol, but a sword and shield, the arms of the Middle Ages. Again, the singer charges the taking of her lover to kings and princes, who have no pity. This plainly indicates that the ballad is much older than the form of language in which it is given here, so that, although a parody of the song may have been introduced into New York in 1862 or IS63, the song is much older than that. The years 1862 and 1863 were war times. The Civil War of 1861 was then waxing fierce and bloody. What would be more natural than for ballad- mongers to hunt up an old song and dress it up for such an occasion ?
C. E. McDONALD.
NEW YORK, Sept. 4, 1901.
DRAFTING FOR RECRUITS.
An account of how the draft was conducted during the Civil War and something about the business of supplying men for the army during the years 1863 and 1864 may be of interest and valuable as a contribution of one phase of that period not heretofore described, at least so far as the writer is aware.
The writer was connected with the provost marshal department of the Third Massachusetts district most of the time as chief clerk, and all that is written is absolutely true so far as that district is con- cerned.
In the fall of 1862 the government became convinced that ex- traordinary steps must be taken if the army was to be replenished with recruits. It was a dismal time. Antietam had not added to the glory of our arms. The South still exhibited strength and gener- alship. The losses to our army had been great, and recruiting sta- tions gave no evidence of an uprising of the people as had occurred the year before. The bounties offered as an inducement to enlist failed to encourage the hopes of the country. Therefore when Con- - gress met it was decided to resort to drafting as the only means by
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which the army could be reinforced. Each State was thereupon di- vided into enrolment districts corresponding to congressional dis- tricts. In each district a board of enrolment, composed of a provost marshal, commissioner of enrolment, and a surgeon, was appointed. The provost marshal was the executive officer of the board and was practically in command of the district. The commis- sioner had particular charge of the enrolment, while the surgeon made the physical examinations of men drafted or enlisted. Of course many questions came before them to be decided as a board.
Immediately upon the organization of this board the enrolment of all persons between eighteen and forty-five years began and was com- pleted with dispatch, a duplicate list of the names being sent to the provost marshal general at Washington.
About the first of July, 1863, a draft was ordered throughout the country to fill the quota assigned under this call to each State, and which quota was subdivided according to the population of each district, and in districts where there were a number of towns the number was again subdivided, so that each town furnished only the proportion its population warranted.
This matter having been settled, each district made preparations for the draft. This action brought the war home to every household. Compulsory service in the army excited the greatest apprehension in the public mind and some there were who counselled resistance, though this disposition did not prevail to an alarming extent. On the day of the draft a riot did take place in Boston as it did also in some of the larger cities. It was quickly quelled in Boston and with such vigor as to serve as a warning against similar demonstrations at future drafts.
The names were drawn from a box by a man blindfolded and the provost marshal or an assistant announced each name as it was drawn and a clerk thereupon recorded the name. Threats were made against any person who would dare to record the names of persons so drawn. This, however, proved an empty threat. The hall was filled with an excited crowd, including some of the roughest element of the city. There were a sufficient number of police present to prevent an outbreak that day, and a detachment of the Boston
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Lancers were detailed the following day, and later a detachment of the Massachusetts Heavy Artillery replaced the Lancers and contin- ued in this service until all apprehensions of trouble had dis- appeared.
It took several days to complete the draft, as a much larger num- ber of names were required to be drawn than were actually needed to fill the quota.
The draft having been completed, the unfortunate persons whose names were drawn were notified to appear and show cause why they should not take arms in defence of their country. The law contained so many exemptions, physical and otherwise, that at the end of the first day the possibility of filling the quota appeared remote indeed. It seemed as though all the men physically qualified were the only sons of widowed mothers, or had orphan children dependent upon them for support.
The drafted man without means to pay commutation, or to pro- vide a substitute, having a family dependent upon him, and who knows that he has none of the instincts or qualifications that would make him useful as a soldier, is certainly deserving of charitable com- miseration, and is not fairly an object of ridicule or derision. In speaking of drafted men it should be understood, therefore, that what is here written has reference to general rather than particular cases. The man who reached the army, having been drafted, ap- peared, when he arrived at the front, like one who had been exiled and doomed unwillingly to participate in scenes abhorrent to his nature. He could claim no consideration because of his patriotism, for he had been, metaphorically, dragged into service by the scruff of the neck, like some criminal, and possibly feeling somewhat ashamed at being placed among men who had been voluntarily fighting for two years. With appreciation of these facts it is not strange that he felt the embarrassment of his situation, always to be pointed at as the man who was drafted. The substitute was not pressed into service. He was a gentleman of fortune and could take care of himself. He asked no consideration of any one and got none. His stay with the army, as a rule, was short, and so far as carousing could make it so his life was a happy one.
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In addition to his other afflictions the drafted man was sent to the front with the substitutes, so little consideration did he receive from the government. No wonder he was lonely. In our regiment such a case was discovered and was so pathetic as to arouse, when found out, the sympathetic kindness of the men who took him in charge and for whom he never ceased to have a devoted fondness.
Men who were unable to convince the examining surgeon of their physical disqualifications, or could find no other cause for exemp- tion, were obliged to go into the army, provide a substitute, or pay a commutation fee of $300, which sum the government accepted in lieu of service. There being some doubt whether the commutation fee would exempt a man for more than one draft, a good many pre- ferred obtaining a substitute at an expense varying from $400 to $600, thus ensuring them from draft for three years.
All drafted men believed with General Sherman that war is hell, not having arrived at that period of life when a fire is needed to supply the rapidly diminishing vitality of the body.
It was astonishing how many men had imperfect eyesight, deafness, poor teeth, varicose veins, rheumatism, or some other of the apparently innumerable causes that were contained in the list of exemptions. A detailed description of each man was taken before he was allowed to depart. As the men re- sponded to the notice to appear, they made known their physical disabilities to the surgeon or their claims for exemption under the law to the two other members of the board. who required sworn proof of the facts stated before releasing them. A full and complete de- scription of each man was taken by a clerk, whereupon they were allowed to depart if exempted. Those not exempted were taken to the Beach-street barracks and held unless the commutation fee was paid or substitute furnished.
In taking the description of a man it was easy to tell whether or not he had succeeded in escaping the draft by his general air of liveliness, or his jocular remarks about his less fortunate companions. Occasionally one would have the nerve to express regret because he was not accepted for service, though physically able, but was re- minded by the clerk that the opportunity of going as a substitute at $600 was still open or he could go as a volunteer.
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